REUTERS/Umit BektasRiot police fire tear gas against protesters during a demonstration in Ankara June 3, 2013.

On Monday Turkey's Public Workers Unions Confederation (KESK) announced it would hold a "warning strike" on June 4-5 to protest at the crackdown, which means that people will continue to flood the streets during the work week.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dismissed the protestors — whom he called "looters," "bums," and "extremists" — and has vowed to go forward with plans to demolishing the park and build a mall in its place.

Erdogan, facing the fiercest protests since he assumed office in 2003, accused the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) of inciting the demonstrations.

Stores along the central boulevard of Istiklal were open for business Monday morning as workers struggled to remove the broken glass and graffiti resulting from the city center being abandoned by police, while protesters representing various groups continued to march along the street.

A few kilometers away, however, the area around the neighborhood of Beşiktaş and Dolmabahçe Avenue continues to be flooded with tear gas amid pitched street battles between protesters and riot police, a scene that has repeated itself for the past several evenings, with demonstrators blocking armored police vehicles using hastily constructed blockades and dodging tear gas canisters.

The clashes have yielded some incredible scenes: last night, protesters managed to highjack a bulldozer, forcing police to flee and reaching 500 meters of the Prime Minister’s office in Istanbul.

The unrest in Turkey continues to gain international attention: the U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, Francis Ricciardone, canceled an upcoming trip to Turkey as a result of the violence as the U.S. Embassy issued a warning to U.S. citizens in Turkey about the ongoing conflict.

The Hacker organization Anonymous launched a series of attacks on the websites of the ruling AKP party, the Turkish President, and a variety of Turkish news organizations accused of ignoring the unrest, pledging to “bring the Turkish government to its knees.”

Erdoğan, the Prime Minister, who has just left for Morocco, has remained defiant.

He has labeled the social media networks that have been utilized during the protests a “danger to society,” and today made the extraordinary claim that “foreign powers” were potentially behind the protests, calling for an investigation by Turkish intelligence.

Judging by the scene at Taksim square as of late Monday, it doesn't seem like the people are backing down either.

AP/Thanassis Stavrakis

REUTERS/Stoyan NenovA demonstrator waves a Turkish flag during an anti-government protest at Taksim Square in central Istanbul June 3, 2013.